National Center Events

Register Now (Early Bird Special) for the National Center's 51st Annual Conference: New York City, March 17-19, 2024

The National Center's 51st annual national conference will take place on March 17-19, 2024 in New York City. The conference will be held at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College and at the CUNY Graduate Center.

The theme of the conference will be New Crossroads in Collective Bargaining and Labor Relations in Higher Education and the Professions.

Click here to register.

Below is a list of confirmed panels and panelists. Additional panels will be announced in future newsletters and on our website.

Panel: Supreme Court Affirmative Action Decisions: Impact on DEI in Higher Education Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining with Kapil Longani, SUNY Senior Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs and General Counsel, Channing Cooper, AFT Legal Department Deputy Director, Julie Miceli, Husch Blackwell (invited), and Angela Thompson, Moderator.

Panel: Navigating Generative AI in Higher Education: Implications for Collective Bargaining, Pedagogy, and Research with Rob Weill, AFT Director of Policy, Research and Field Services, Kyle Arnone, AFT Collective Bargaining Center, and Anthony G. Picciano, Professor, Hunter College and CUNY Graduate Center, School of Education. (panel in formation)

Panel: The First Amendment and the Erosion of Managerial Authority with Martin Malin, Professor Emeritus at Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology and Monica C. Barrett, Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC, and Rachel Paster, Esq. New York State United Teachers, Commentators, and Michael Loconto, Labor Arbitrator, Moderator.

Panel: Collaborating Across the Table: The Value of Labor-Management Cooperation in Reversing Contingency to Improve Outcomes for Women Faculty and Students with Carla Katz, JD - NTT Faculty, Bargaining Team Member (Labor), Rutgers University, Kim O’Halloran, PhD - VP of Academic Planning & Administration, Bargaining Team Member (Management), Rutgers University, and Heather Pierce, PhD - Adjunct Faculty, Bargaining Team Member (Labor), Rutgers University. (panel in formation)

Panel: Addressing Institutional Betrayal at the Table: Tackling Harassment and Title IX Issues Through Collective Bargaining with Risa Lieberwitz, Professor of Labor and Employment Law in the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, and AAUP General Counsel, Karen R. Stubaus, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Rutgers University, Alexandra Matish, Associate Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs and Senior Director, Academic Human Resources, University of Michigan, Sarah M. Arveson, UAW Local 5810 Vice President – UC Berkeley and Paula E. Burke, Senior Associate, Huron Consulting, Moderator.

Facilitated Session: Bargaining Over Job Security for Contingent Faculty with Benjamin Superfine, Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Relations, University of Illinois-Chicago and Julie Schmid, AFT Senior Director of Higher Education, Facilitators.

Book Discussion: Contingent Faculty and the Remaking of Higher Education: A Labor History with Gwendolyn Alker, Associate Arts Professor, Department of Drama, New York University, Joe T. Berry, Ph.D., City College of San Francisco and University of Illinois (retired), COCAL, HELU, Anne McLeer, Director of Higher Education and Strategic Planning, SEIU Local 500, Joseph van der Naald, PhD Candidate in Sociology, Graduate Center, CUNY, and Eric Fure-Slocum, Associate Professor of History (Emeritus), co-editor of Contingent Faculty and the Remaking of Higher Education, Moderator.

Panel: Best Practices in Arbitration in Higher Education and the Professions with Homer LaRue, Labor Arbitrator, Mediator, and Professor, Howard University Law School, Mark Gaston Pearce, Labor Arbitrator, Visiting Professor and Executive Director, Workers’ Rights Institute, Georgetown University Law School, and Katie Rosen, Labor Arbitrator. (panel in formation) Co-sponsored by the National Academy of Arbitrators.

Panel: Annual Legal Update (CLE) with Henry Morris, Jr., ArentFox Schiff, LLP, Amy L. Rosenberger, Willig, Williams & Davidson, Aaron Nisenson, Senior Legal Counsel, AAUP, and Brian Selchick, Cullen and Dykman LLP. (panel in formation)

Panel: Enrollment and Degree Attainment in the United States by: Patterns in States with and without Collective Bargaining with Nathaniel J. Bray, Professor, Program Coordinator, Higher Education Administration, Associate Director, Education Policy Center, University of Alabama, Senior Fellow, College Promise, Noel Keeney, Research Associate, Education Policy Center, University of Alabama, F. King Alexander, Professor, Florida Gulf Coast University, Senior Faculty Fellow, Education Policy Center, University of Alabama, Faculty Affiliate, Cornell University, and Higher Education Research Institute Senior Fellow, College Promise, and Stephen G. Katsinas, Professor, Higher Education Administration & Political Science, Director, Education Policy Center, University of Alabama, Senior Fellow, College Promise, Moderator.

Panel: Graduate Student Representation Election Outcomes, 2020-2023: Navigating a New Era of Graduate Student Unionization with Jacob Apkarian, Associate Professor, Sociology, York College, CUNY, Gary Rhoades, Professor and Director, Center for the Study of Higher Education, University of Arizona, Commentator, Nicholas DiGiovanni, Partner, Morgan, Brown & Joy, LLP, Commentator, and Kathy Collins, Director, Huron Consulting, Moderator.

Facilitated Session: A New Wave: Undergraduate Student Unionization in Higher Education with Cory McCartan, founder, Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers; former bargaining committee member, HGSU-UAW L. 5118 and Joseph Jelincic, Assistant Vice Chancellor in Collective Bargaining at the California State University, Facilitators.

Book Discussion: The Costs of Completion: Student Success in Community College with Robin G. Isserles, Author, The Costs of Completion, Professor of Sociology, Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY, and Grievance Counselor for Full-time Faculty, PSC BMCC Chapter, Christine Mangino, President, Queensborough Community College, CUNY, James McKeever, Sociology, Los Angeles Pierce College, CA, AFT 1521 Faculty Guild President, Brian Kapitulik, Sociology, Greenfield Community College, MA, Department Chair, Social Sciences; Former Acting Dean of Faculty, Colena Sesanker, Associate Professor, Philosophy, Gateway Community College, CT, Member of Board of Regents of CSCU, and Jennifer Shanoski, Chemistry, Merritt College, Oakland California, Moderator.

Panel: Academic Staff Association Responses to Vaccine Mandates in Higher Education Institutions in Canada and the United States with Alison Braley-Rattai, Associate Professor, Department of Labour Studies, Brock University, Larry Savage, Professor, Department of Labour Studies, Brock University, Jean Grassman, Associate Professor, Environmental, Occupational, and Geospatial Health Sciences, CUNY School of Public Health, Kara Laskowski, Professor and Chair, Communication Studies, Shippensburg University and State APSCUF Meet and Discuss Chair, and Jamie McCallum, Associate Professor, Sociology, Middlebury College and author: Essential: How the Pandemic Transformed the Long Fight for Worker Justice, Moderator.

Panel: Trustees’ Perspectives on Collective Bargaining with Susan Solomon, City College of San Francisco Trustee, Mark Gaffney, Wayne State University Board of Governors, and Paul Brown, University of Michigan Board of Regents. (panel in formation)

Panel: Bargaining Issues For Classified, Clerical, and Other Campus Staff with Jeffrey Grider, President, Portland Community College Federation of Classified Employees AFT Local 3922, Christine O'Connell, President, Union of Rutgers Administrators AFT Local 1766, Tony Johnston, President, Cook County College Teachers Union AFT Local 1600, and Andre’ Poplar, Vice Chancellor – Human Resources and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Justice, Oakland Community College – District, Moderator.

Panel: Collective Bargaining Concerning Librarians in Higher Education with Meredith Kahn, LEO AFT-MI 6244, Campus Chair, Galleries, Librarians, Archivists and Museums (GLAM) and Librarian for Gender & Sexuality Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Kelly McElroy, United Academics of Oregon State, AAUP/AFT Local 9609, and Consuella Askew, Vice President for University Libraries and University Librarian, Rutgers University Libraries, Moderator. (panel in formation)

Panel: Labor Justice and Labor Studies in Higher Education with Joy Blanchard, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Lutrill and Pearl Payne School of Education, Louisiana State University, Jordan Harper, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs, Morgan State University, Ananya Malik, MEd, doctoral student, Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education, University of Georgia, Letitia F. Silas, Labor and Employment Attorney and Consultant, Commentator, and Adrienne Eaton, Dean, Office of the Dean and Distinguished Professor, Labor Studies and Employment Relations (LSER), Rutgers University, Moderator.

Book Discussion: The Right to Learn: Resisting the Right-Wing Attack on Academic Freedom with Jennifer Ruth, Professor of Film, College of the Arts, Portland State University co-editor, The Right to Learn, Ellen Schrecker, Professor of History, retired, Yeshiva University, co-editor, The Right to Learn, Helena Worthen, labor educator, retired, University of Illinois, School of Labor and Employment Relations, contributor, The Right to Learn, and Charles Toombs, Professor of Africana Studies, San Diego State University; President, California Faculty Association, Moderator.

Book Discussion: Unionizing the Ivory Tower: Cornell Workers' Fifteen-Year Fight for Justice and a Living Wage with Al Davidoff, Organizational and Leadership Development Director, Solidarity Center; Author, Unionizing the Ivory Tower: Cornell Workers' Fifteen-Year Fight for Justice and a Living Wage and Carlos Aramayo, President, UNITE HERE Local 26, Commentator. (panel in formation)

Become a Conference Sponsor or Program Advertiser to Celebrate Our 51st Annual Conference and Support Our Research

To help celebrate the National Center’s 51st annual conference, we encourage higher education institutions, unions, law firms, and companies to become a sponsor of our 2024 annual conference.

Through a conference sponsorship you will demonstrate support for the National Center’s continuing labor-management mission and research agenda. To access the sponsorship rate sheet click here.

Another important way to celebrate the National Center’s 51st annual conference and demonstrate support for our mission and research is for your institution, union, law firm, organization or company to place an advertisement in the conference program. To access the ad order form, click here.

Please email us with any questions at: msavares@hunter.cuny.edu; nat_ctr@hunter.cuny.edu

Regional Higher Education Collective Bargaining Workshop at the University of Illinois-Chicago: A Major Success

On September 14 and 15, 2023, the National Center held a regional higher education collective bargaining workshop at the University of Illinois-Chicago. The regional conference was co-sponsored by the University of Illinois System, and the University of Illinois School of Labor & Employment Relations’ Labor Education Program.

The sold-out workshop included over 100 attendees and speakers from Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, and California.

This was the third regional workshop organized by the National Center since 2013, with the last two being held in California. It is part our effort to revive the tradition of holding regional programming similar to the events the National Center sponsored in earlier decades.

The workshop program at the University of Illinois-Chicago included facilitated sessions on specific collective bargaining issues as well as traditional panel discussions on collective bargaining, community colleges, academic freedom and free speech rights on campus, affirmative action and discrimination, best practices in arbitration, and legal obligations under public sector collective bargaining laws and the National Labor Relations Act. The conference keynote speaker was Sameer Gadkaree, President, The Institute of College Access and Success.

Click here for the workshop website and here for the conference materials.


Best Practices in Collective Bargaining Panel with (l-r) Diana Valera, President CFA/IFT, Columbia College, Mark Bennett, Laner Muchin, Marcia Mackey, Michigan Education Association (moderator), Melissa Sortman, Assistant Provost and Director, Faculty and Academic Staff Affairs, Michigan State University, and Elizabeth Towell, SEIU Local 73	Best Practices in Collective Bargaining Panel with (l-r) Stephen Yokich, Bloch, Bennett, Cervone, Auerbach & Yokich, LLP, Robb Craddock, Labor and Employee Relations Executive Director, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Mike Newman, Deputy Director, AFSCME Council 31, Richard W. Fanning, Jr, Clark Hill, PLC, and Terry Curry, former Associate Provost and Associate Vice President, Michigan State University (moderator)	Collective Bargaining, Discrimation, Affirmative Action & Title IX Panel with (l-r) Ricky Baldwin, Assistant Director, State Division, SEIU Local 73, Risa Lieberwitz, Professor of Labor and Employment, Cornell ILR and AAUP General Counsel, Augustus Wood, Assistant Professor, School of Labor & Employment Relations, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Julie Miceli, Husch Blackwell, and Karen Stubaus, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Rutgers University and National Center Affiliated Researcher (moderator)


Legal Obligations under Public Sector Statutes and NLRA Panel with (l-r) Richard W. Fanning, Jr., Clark Hill, PLC, Ellen Strizak, General Counsel, Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, Angie Cowan Hamada, National Labor Relations Board Region 13 Director, and Alice Johnson, General Counsel Cook College Teachers Union (moderator)	Community Colleges: Distinct Bargaining Issues and Challenges Panel with (l-r) Robert Boonin, Dykema, PLLC, Tony Johnston, Cook County Teachers Union, Local 1600 President, Andre' L. Poplar, Vice Chancellor for Human Resources and Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, Oakland Community College, Shannon Altson, Director of Business, Legal & Human Resources, Michigan Edcuation Association, and Joshua Walker, Dean of Business and Institutional Effectiveness, John Wood Community College (moderator)	10 Best Practice Tips from Experienced Labor Arbitrators with (l-r) Meeta Bass, Arbitrator, Cary Morgen, Arbitrator, and Betty Widgeon, Arbitrator, (moderator and panelist)

Thank You for a Successful 50th Anniversary Conference

The National Center's 50th anniversary conference on March 26-28, 2023 was a major success. We thank all the panelists, moderators, and attendees for their participation.

We are grateful to NEA,TIAA, SEIU, Morgan, Brown & Joy, AFT, AAUP, PSC, NEA National Council of Higher Education, The Standard, and Cullen & Dykman for sponsoring the conference. We also thank the organizations, law firms, and businesses that purchased conference program advertisements.

Click here for the full conference program. And click here for the webpage dedicated to the 50th Anniversary conference, which was developed with the assistance of Iris Finkel, Hunter College Web and Digital Initiatives Librarian.

The success of this year's conference would not have been possible without the assistance of Hunter College and Roosevelt House staff and students and the many conference volunteers.

Video Recordings from the 50th Anniversary Conference

Below are links to video recordings of certain presentations at the National Center's 50th Anniversary Conference.

We thank Roosevelt House Production Coordinator Daniel T. Culkin and Peter Jackson, Hunter College's Chief Digital Media CLT & Production Coordinator and the students of the Hunter College Film & Media Department for recording and producing the videos.

Welcoming Remarks by National Center Executive Director William A. Herbert, Anne Ollen, Managing Director, TIAA Institute, Gary Rhoades, University of Arizona and Co-Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy, and Karen Stubaus, Rutgers University, and Associate Editor, Journal of Collective Bargaining inthe Academy.

Keynote Presentation by Michael Sandel, Political Philosopher and Harvard University Professor with Introductory remarks by Hunter College President, Jennifer J. Raab.

Panel: Title IX: Its Past, Its Present, and Its Future with Frazier Benya, Senior Program Officer, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, Lance Houston, Title IX Coordinator and Director of Equity and Compliance, Adelphi University, Risa Lieberwitz, Professor of Labor and Employment Law in the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations and General Counsel of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), Tamiko Strickman, Special Advisor to the President and Executive Director of the Office of Equity, Civil Rights, and Title IX, University of Michigan, and Moderators: Karen R. Stubaus, Ph.D., Vice President for Academic Affairs, Rutgers University and Alexandra Matish, J.D., Associate Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs and Senior Director, Academic Human Resources, University of Michigan. This panel was co-organized by the National Academies' Action Collaborative on Preventing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education.

Panel: Treasuring the Past and the Spirit of Change: Perspectives from Experienced Arbitrators with Rosemary A. Townley, Arbitrator and Mediator, Howard C. Edelman, Arbitrator and Mediator, Jacquelin F. Drucker, Arbitrator and Mediator, and Homer LaRue, Arbitrator, Mediator, and Professor, Howard University Law School, Moderator. This panel was co-sponsored by the National Academy of Arbitrators.

Panel: Higher Education Unionization: Perspectives from Labor Relations Agencies with John Wirenius, Chairperson, New York State Public Employment Relations Board, Marjorie Wittner, Chairperson, Massachusetts Commonwealth Employment Relations Board, Mary Beth Hennessy-Shotter, Director of Conciliation and Arbitration, NJ Public Employment Relations Commission, and Michael P. Sellars, Executive Director, Washington State Public Employment Relations Commission, Moderator. This panel was co-sponsored by the the Association of Labor Relations Agencies.

Panel: Annual Legal Update with Amy L. Rosenberger, Willig, Williams & Davidson, Monica C. Barrett, Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC, Henry Morris, Jr., Partner, ArentFox Schiff LLP, Aaron Nisenson, Senior Legal Counsel, AAUP, and Brian Selchick, Cullen and Dykman LLP, Moderator.

Panel: Yesterday and Today: Experienced Faculty Leaders in Higher Education with Jamie Dangler, former Vice President for Academics, United University Professions, Art Hochner, Associate Professor Emeritus, Management, Temple University & former President, Temple Assn. of University Professionals, AFT 4531, Charles Toombs, President, California Faculty Association, Kenneth Mash, President, APSCUF, and Penny Lewis, Secretary, Professional Staff Congress/CUNY, AFT Local #2334, Moderator.

Panel: Exploring the Retirement Income Equity Gap with Brent Davis, Economist, TIAA Institute, John Dorsa, Chief Pension Officer, Office of the New York City Comptroller, Valerie Martin Conley, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Idaho State University, and Anne Ollen, Managing Director, TIAA Institute, Panelist and Moderator.

Panel: College Athletes, NCAA and the NLRA: An Update with Gabriel Feldman, Sher Garner Professor of Sports Law, Tulane Law School, Joshua Nadreau, Fisher Phillips LLP, Mark Gaston Pearce, Executive Director, Workers’ Rights Institute, Georgetown University Law School, and former National Labor Relations Board Chairman, and Jeffrey Hirsch, Geneva Yeargan Rand Distinguished Professor of Law, University of North Carolina School of Law, Panelist and Moderator.

Panel: Labor Issues Facing Independent Musicians with Marc Ribot, Guitarist and Composer, Phillip Golub, Pianist and Composer, Amir Elsaffar, Trumpeter and Composer, Sulynn Hago, Guitarist and Composer, and Larry Blumenfeld, Moderator. This panel was co-sponsored by the Music Workers Alliance.

50th Anniversary Conference Sponsors: